I’m perfectly comfortable if you say no,” Keith Rabois, a board
member, recalled to Wired that he’d told Hufman. Once in
front of the Reddit ofce, the three men shook hands, and
Ohanian and Altman accompanied Hufman past the doorman
and into an elevator to the ffth foor, where the three went
straight to a small conference room and shut the door. Pao
was already inside. She had a list of journalists’ names and
numbers they were to call.

Within minutes, a handful of reporters fred questions at the
incoming and former CEOs of Reddit. Altman did a lot of the
talking. It was easy for him to hype Hufman to the journalists
on the phone, since he had long respected him both as a programmer and a leader. Plus, the potential magic of the comeback story was not lost on Altman. “He actually built Reddit.

He wrote the code,” Altman said into the speaker at the centerof the table. “The chance to get that back was so special.”It was professional, clean, and cool. Somehow, everyonemanaged to keep their answers to the questions about Pao’sdeparture positive. “She did an incredible job,” breezedAltman. “She stepped into a really messy situation.” WhenKara Swisher of Recode cut inand asked Pao directly whethershe was fred, Pao managed toforce out a laugh. “Thanks forgetting right to the point,” shesaid, reiterating that she hadresigned because of the board’saggressive growth goals. Shesaid that her departure was a “mutual decision” betweenherself and the board. (She’d later allege in her own book thata board member had threatened her that if she didn’t resign,they’d “go to Plan B.”) Across the table, Hufman’s skin wascrawling. “I was just thinking, god, this is very awkward,” herecalled later. “It’s kind of like being in a room with your exand your new girlfriend or something.”His heart was racing. The panic wasn’t just a responseto the reporters on the phone, or simply to being in the sameroom as Pao. Rather, it was in anticipation of the momentsthat would come once the phone was hung up, once the fourof them took the elevator one foor down. In just moments,he’d need to stand in front of nearly the entire staf of Reddit,only a tiny handful of whom he’d ever met, and address themen masse. He’d need to begin to build these individuals’ trust.

He’d need to inspire them.

He felt moisture begin to accumulate on the surface of hisskin as he stood in the elevator with Altman, Ohanian, andPao. When the doors opened on the fourth foor, he was a deerin headlights: The entire staf was already gathered. He stoodand breathed deeply for a couple minutes as Pao spoke frst,delivering prepared remarks. Her words were a shock to manyjunior stafers, who’d heard her repeat over and over in thepast 10 days that she would not resign. To Hufman, her wordswere a blur. “This is almost over,” he told himself in order tocope. “Someday, this will just be a memory.”Hufman panned the crowd of unsmiling faces and realizedthat each of these people had been through a week of hell, too.

Heck, a year of purgatory for some. He’d be their third CEO innine months. He’d prepared a speech but didn’t want to readfrom a piece of paper. So he ad-libbed, introducing himself,detailing his history, and explaining what he wanted to see outof Reddit. It was not a slam dunk. He came across as enthusi-astic—if a little terrifed.

Some employees were unimpressed by his words, whichincluded multiple notes on issues that needed immediatefxing. To others, they felt critical, arrogant: the UltimateCreator of this thing telling everyone in the room they werescrewing it up. “It just rubbed a lot of people the wrong way,”a former stafer said. “They were like, fuck this guy.”To Hufman, the crossed arms and dour expressions were ashock. He’d just left Hipmunk, where his longtime employeesofered up encouragement and hugs. “That was not what I gotat Reddit,” he said.

Other employees saw in Hufman’s words and tone a laser
focus on product, a specifc set of goals in mind. “You could
tell there was motivation, you could tell he was very intent
on being back, and he had the confdence that he was ready
to do it,” said Stephen Greenwood, a video producer.

Hufman took a few questions from the gathered stafers,

including one about Pao’s ban of hard alcohol in the ofce andmoratorium on work events whose sole activity or focus wasdrinking: “So, are we allowed to drink now?” Sure, Hufmansaid. His philosophy was: “I’m not gonna work at a companywhere we’re gonna treat you like children. We’re gonna treatyou like adults, and in exchange, I want you to act like adultsand look out for one another.”By the time Hufman was done introducing himself andmaking his attempt to rally the team, Pao had already left thebuilding. Despite having announced that she’d stay on as anadviser, she would not be seen at 101 New Montgomery again.Hufman grabbed his laptop and logged in to Reddit asu/spez, his longtime primary account. Already, questions werewaiting for him. He typed a greeting into the comment box andthen answered Redditors’ questions for the next 15 minutes.Hufman realized he wanted to immediately make good on hisgoals, to meet the team, to make all that was wrong right. Heswiveled his chair around and introduced himself to the frststafer he saw. “Hey, I’m Steve.” The employee looked at himand grunted, “Hmm.” Hufman stared for a moment, thenturned back around to his computer. It took every ounce ofrestraint he could muster not to fre the guy on the spot.Instead, he tried again. He turned to the person at the nextcomputer. “Hey, I’m Steve.” It worked. “I’m Jack,” said an engi-neering team leader, Jack Lawson. They struck up a friendlyconversation. That afternoon, Hufman shook hands with andintroduced himself to about half of the 65 stafers. Turnoverwas high in the months following Hufman’s return: About 50stafers left. But Reddit also began a signifcant hiring tear, andBy the time Huffman was done introducinghimself and making his attempt to rally theteam, Pao had already left the building.

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